


A Night When Everyone (even the monsters) Can Have Fun

by HungryLibrary



Category: Splatoon
Genre: F/F, Fluff, happy 10th day of halloween, inspired by the trick or treat splatfest, no time for rereading i gotta be traveling in less than two hours, some oc trick or treaters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-29 01:55:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16254308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HungryLibrary/pseuds/HungryLibrary
Summary: The king-sized candy bars would be a perfectly valid excuse…But they aren’t the real reason why Marina still goes trick or treating at age eighteen.





	A Night When Everyone (even the monsters) Can Have Fun

 

Her first Halloween she had NO idea what was going on.

“People in masks run around extorting bribes!?”

To be fair, Pearl hadn’t done such a great job explaining the idea.

Marina glanced nervously at her apartments door, double checking it was securely locked, bolted, chained, and boobytrapped.

Pearl, perched on mattress that served as both bed and carpet, shrugged and jiggled a leg excitedly.

“Pretty much! The best part is all the shit you can get up to without people getting pissed off, but there’s also a ton of-“

“And no one tries to stop them? What happens if you can’t pay? Do they come armed?” For the first time in months Marina felt like putting her Octozon armor back on. “Should _I_ be armed? Or- No, what I actually need to do is hide.”

She was half way to her safe spot (a innocent looking wall that was exactly six inches thicker than it had been when she moved in and connected to a crawlspace) when Pearl caught her.

“But think about the candy!”

The Inkling latched onto Marina’s middle and dug in her heels. Her negligible weight didn’t mean anything to Marina. Her _words_ on the other hand…

Marina came to dead stop, tips of her tentacles perking up. Hesitantly she looked down at Pearl.

“… candy?”

“LOADS of it.” Pearl grinned, well aware of Marina’s weaknesses and ready to leverage them for a good cause.

“Like seriously bags and bucket loads if you hit the right houses. I said it’s trick or treat, right? And the tricks are just stuff like inking a house or running around scaring other kids. No one gets really scared or anything! It’s just fun, like a splatfest with costumes!”

Biting her lip Marina looked from the barricaded front door to her safe spot.

She’d once said (during her introduction to donuts that had absolutely not turned into a tour of the mall food court) that Inkling food, surface food, was wonderful enough to die for.

She still stood by that, but… going outside, being in crowds of Inklings who might turn on her if they ever realized what she was, who she had been… And trying to do this on a night when they would all be doing their best to scare her in any case…

The idea of them hurting her wasn’t so worrying. Marina knew she’d been made a decorated soldier for a reason, and it wasn’t just because of her knack for building weapons.

But if some poor Inkling tried sneaking up behind her and startled her… _They_ might be the ones to get hurt.

And risking it didn’t sound like a good idea, even for candy.

Drooping sadly Marina turned and dragged herself, and Pearl, back over to the mattress, where she flopped down dejectedly. 

Gold eyes sparkled. Pearl clearly took her defeated look for a victory.

“So you’ll try it? Fucking great! You can dress up as a mad scientist and I’ll- shit I haven’t done this in ages- Maybe I’ll just put on my rocker duds? They look pretty spooky- Oh man this is gonna be AMAZING-”

“I can’t…” Marina broke in quietly. “I can’t go. I’m sorry.”

The words stopped Pearl cold even though Marina had barely said them above a whisper.

Propping herself up on her elbows the Inkling stared down at Marina, stunned.

“But… but candy.” She wheedled hopefully.

“You love food. And there’s some stuff you only see on Halloween. And the fun! It’s like the chilliest most relaxed night of the year! C’mon Marina, you gotta see it!”

It wouldn’t stay the chilliest night of the year if someone accidentally got splatted for real outside of a turfwar.

Marina shuddered.

“I think I should just stay inside and sit this one out.”

To see Pearl’s devastated look was to feel true pain.

“Maybe next year though?” Marina offered, tacking on her best smile. “And you can send me pictures from this year’s if you want to.”

Pearl scowled, a frustrated rather than angry look.

“Like I’m going if you’re not.” Shifting she slumped to one side, cheek smooshed on one fist. “But why the hell won’t you even try it? I swear it’s not that intense or anything.”

This time it was Marina’s turn to shrug, though her casualness was clearly forced.

“I’m still just not used to the crowds, I guess.”

“Hmm.”

The Inkling squinted at Marina intently. Marina flashed a weak smile and turned her gaze to the apartment’s low ceiling.

It actually wasn’t that low, if you were an Inkling of average height. For a tall Octarian however…

“…You say ‘should’ and ‘you guess’.”

Pearl’s tone startled Marina into looking back down. It was rare to hear Pearl speaking softly, especially rare right after she’d just been thwarted at something.

Pearl’s expression was just as soft, eyes cast to the side and… looking a little nervous.

“You haven’t actually said that you WANT to miss out on Halloween, though. If you really don’t want to that’s cool, there’s no point if you wouldn’t have fun. But.”

Gold flickered uncertainly over to Marina.

“If do want to go and something holding you back, you’d let me know right? Cause I’d wanna help with that.”

Sometimes Marina wished her best friend was more like how the rest of the world saw her.

It would be so much easier to keep herself to herself if Pearl really was self-centered, cold, and callous. Instead she was like this, and her earnest words sank warmth into Marina’s chest even as they made her heart twist.

“Thank you, Pearlie.”

Pearl’s answering blush brought another wave of warmth. She could hide it all she wanted but the nickname was clearly something Pearl still hadn’t gotten over yet, in a good way.

Which made saying the next bit all the worse.

“I don’t think, I don’t think you can help with this, though. It’s…”

It’s the fact that I was trained to kill people like you and still don’t trust those old instincts not to kick in.

It’s the fact that I can’t explain that without telling you I’m an Octoling.

It’s the fact that I’m scared you’d leave if you knew the truth…

“… personal. Something that I need to deal with someday, I just can’t do it by this Halloween. But like I said, maybe by the next one…”

“Is it the crowds?”

Pearl broke in bluntly.

“I know you don’t like getting attention and the city still makes you jumpy. If that’s it-”

“That’s _part_ of it.” Marina stressed. “But-”

A touch to her arm made Marina break off.

“Hold up Reena, I just wanna say- Halloween’s all about being who you _aren’t_ for the day.” Pearl was holding her gaze, that earnest look back in place.

“Depending on your costume, people won’t even know its you. You’ll be, you’ll be lost in the crowd, just one more mad ax murderer or pumpkin princess or whatever. Like being invisible only not.”

Marina shook her head but didn’t have the heart to interrupt as Pearl charged on.

“And- Hey, if you don’t wanna do tricks or running around going crazy that’s no problem! Tons of people just walk with friends and collect candy! I mean, most of them are the littler kids and their family, but having a few more older teens around would probably make them feel eve better!”

Children. Little kids who laughed and cried and did silly things instead of marching in step or saluting on instinct.

The idea was still so new to Marina, so incredible.

It was so precious that Marina immediately picked up on the faintest hint of a threat against it.

“What do you mean ‘make them feel better’?”

Pearl’s mouth quirked up at the corner. The ‘I’ve got you now’ couldn’t have been plainer if the Inkling had cackled aloud.

“I mean, the cheesy decorations and costumes can be pretty _spooky_ to a kid.” She waggled and eyebrow for emphasis. “Some of them only go trick or treating at all if they can find someone bigger to protect them from all the ghosts and ghouls.”

Expression carefully blank, Pearl struck the killing blow against Marina’s resistance.

“We could be two of those someones, if you wanted…?”

Oh dear.

Marina knew what she _should_ say to that, but she also knew what she would _actually_ end up saying, which was-

“… I am _not_ going as a mad scientist.”

Pearl grinned.

“Well then I sure as fuck can’t go as a world-class Marina-wrangler, because that’s exactly what I am!”

Glowering Marina reached over and poked Pearl on her non-squished cheek.

“AND I want enough candy to _bury_ you in afterwards.”

“Sweet~”

 

* * *

 

The following binge of Halloween specials would fail to give Marina any real love for monsters in general.

But there was something about werewolves… Their fear of losing themselves, the idea of transforming, all the stories of chaining themselves or hiding away rather than risk hurting the people around them with instincts they were afraid they wouldn’t be able to control…

Pearl laughed and called her a furry, despite being the one who knew exactly where to get all the parts to the costume.

Marina let her laugh.

She might not be into the horror genre, but werewolves would always be special to her.

So of course on her very first Halloween there was only one costume she could choose.

 

* * *

 

She honestly was rather proud of her pair of furry ears, matching fluffy tail, artfully torn up shirt, and two sets of rather clumsy ‘paws’.

“You make a fucking grade-A werewolf.” Pearl said for the tenth time that night, before tacking on-

“But I’ll never get how you could chose a fur ball when vampires are so totally where it’s at.”

-also for the tenth time that night.

If Marina’s wolf ears had been real they would have pinned back as she rolled her eyes.

“And be stuck being allergic to sunlight and pizza? Pass.”

“You know dogs used to be allergic to chocolate right?” Pearl bared her fake fangs in a (supposedly) blood chilling smile. “Guess I’ll just have to be a good responsible friend and confiscate yours…” 

Marina answered with a smile of her own, her homemade fangs being realistic enough that she could have eaten with them if she wanted to.

“I’m a werewolf, not a dog, thank you very much.” She said sweetly. “So don’t go near my chocolate unless you want to get _bitten._ ”

Marina let her smile take on a slightly different edge.

Pearl gulped.

And then there was a chorus of ‘oohs’ and ‘aaahs’ as the street seemed to flood with tiny waist-high ghosts and zombies.

“I love your tail!”

Said one ghoul as they hugged the simulated fur.

“Are you a _real_ vampire?”

Another one asked, glaring suspiciously up at Pearl’s over-the-top black cape ensemble.

“Are you guys gonna FIGHT!?”

This from a very eager and apparently also equally bloodthirsty princess dressed all in pink.

Pearl grinned at them all and gathered up her cape dramatically.

“No we’re not gonna fight- Halloween’s the one night each year Werewolves and Vampires call a truce! And yeah I’m a real vampire, just go ahead an try guessing how old I am.”

“Ten!” Came a shout from the back.

Pearl smirked. “Older.”

“Twelve?” The black cat who said it sounded skeptical.

Pearl drew herself up to her full height (which was still a few inches short five feet).

“Older!”

“A hundred!”

“ _Older!_ ”

“A thousand hundred billion million!”

“… Okay. A _little_ younger than that.”

The crowd of children pressed in, awed and curious laughing and even more lively than Marina had ever seen before.

She wanted to answer all of their endless questions. She wanted to laugh at how none of them hesitated to reach out to her, she wanted to tell them all how amazing their own costumes were and hear all about how they’d picked them, who’d helped make them, which candy they were hoping to get the most-

But then a little pumpkin, still so young that their hand was more of tentacle, reached up and tucked it into one of Marina’s werewolf paws.

A lump a rose in her throat.

And all Marina could do was smile helplessly, hoping the faint shadows were enough to hide the tell tale brightness in her eyes.

She thought Pearl might had caught a glimpse. But the Inkling didn’t mention it, just kept the kids distracted long enough for Marina to wipe at her eyes without anyone noticing and slipped some extra candy into the little pumpkin’s bag before the evening was over.

 

* * *

 

**\- Two years later -**

 

“You really going this year too?”

Pearl sat on their bed, heels kicking open air as she watched Marina fish around in the closet.

Marina’s answer came back slightly muffled thanks to the forest of coat racks.

“Of course I am, Pearlie- Aha!”

Stepping back she held up a familiar wolf’s ears headband. “Yes! I knew I put them in here last year!”

A grin flashed over Pearl’s face- She would always love seeing Marina get happy over the smallest things- but her awkwardly kicking legs didn’t stop.

“It’s just.” Pearl chewed on the words, trying to work them out. “You’re eighteen. I’m legally allowed to get wasted- Though not unless you’re around to keep an eye on me!” She added as Marina cast her a Look.

“But, I mean, we’re both adults now. Isn’t it kinda weird if we go trick or treating? We don’t even have the excuse of having a kid to keep track of…”

“We do have Eight.” Marina pointed out, bending down to rummage in a pile of boxes.

Pearl snickered.

“Eight’s a _teen,_ Reena. And gonna be off with Three, the last thing they’re gonna want is mom and mom cramping their style.”

“Yes." Drawled Marina. "I’m sure that’s why they made us promise to call and check in with them every hour...”

Tossing two pairs of wolf paws over her shoulder Marina straightened up and tapped her chin thoughtfully, trying to find a corner of the closet she hadn’t already searched.

“Do you have any idea were my tail went? I could have sworn I saw it just a little while ago.”

Pearl squirmed on the bed, digging her hands into the duvet.

“Reena... You really okay with us being the odd ones out?”

Squirming some more Pearl went on. “I know you’re better about getting attention, specially with the whole Octoling thing off your chest, but…” Pearl struggled for a second, not sure how to say it, and then just shrugged.

“This could be a bit different, is all I’m saying. You cool with that?”

Sighing Marina looked around again, ready to just give a flat ‘yes’ and go back to her hunting.

Pearl’s expression brought her up short.

It had been a while since she’d last seen Pearl look so nervous, nervous enough for it almost to count as fear- Not for herself but for Marina.

With a smile Marina abandoned the closet and went over to join Pearl on the bed.

“Pearlie.” She said, gently pressing a hand over one of Pearl’s clenched ones. “This year isn’t going to be different or weird.”

Pearl looked up at her, confused. “Uhh, it’s not?”

Marina shook her head and laughed.

“Of course it won’t be! Abby’s little brother Leon is going to be trick or treating for the first time, remember. We promised we’d be there for him just like we were for his sister’s first year. Off the Hook can’t start breaking promises just because we’re on the news now, can we?”

Pearl’s eyes softened, worry fading away into something warm as her hands relaxed.

“… No.” She chuckled. “We sure as fuck can’t.”

Marina beamed.

Then looked back over at the closet and sighed.

“And I just as surely can’t figure out what I did with that stupid old tail… I don’t want to break tradition and get a new one, but-”

“I’ve got an idea where you might find it.” Pearl offered. “Check drawer by the mirror.”

Marina eyed her disbelievingly but got up to check anyway. “The sock drawer? I really can’t see how it’d get mixed up in there.”

Going over she opened the drawer and started digging around inside.

“I don’t think it’s in here. What made you think-”

“ _Pfft._ ”

The huff of suppressed laughter made Marina straight up immediately, very wise to the trouble the sound could mean.

“Pearl.” She started with a warning glower. “What did you do  _this_ time?”

Pearl, both hands clapped to her mouth, just shook her head and jerked her chin at the full length mirror.

Marina looked around to check herself in it.

She just managed to catch a glimpse of grey fur before it vanished behind her.

Marina stared.

“… how in the world did you put that on without me noticing?” She asked, honestly a bit impressed.

Pearl’s giggles intensified.

“You-” She chocked out. “You know our, uh, little moment on the couch this morning..?”

Confusion, realization, shock, incredulity- it all flashed across Marina’s face in span of a single second.

Then she spun, having settled on horror, and covered her mouth with her hands as well.

“Since the MORNING!? Wait- And you put it on _while_ we were making out? Are you really telling me you planned all this!?”

“Just the tail.” Pearl snickered, flicking tears of laughter from her eyes.

“It’s Halloween day, Reena. I gotta get my tricks in while I can, yeah?”

She was so busy chuckling at her own cunning she didn’t notice Marina had moved until hands found her shoulders and pushed her carefully back onto the bed.

Pearl snapped back to attention.

What she saw was, light and shadow as Marina’s long tentacles fell in a curtain around them, skin like dark smoky quartz backed with rubies, soft green-blue and a warm pick that almost glowed, a smile, soft and achingly open- Marina leaning in like she a hundred times before- And then the world stopped being about sight as she shut her eyes and fell into the kiss.

Later, at some point, Marina drew back a little, just as much as Pearl’s hands would allow.

And as Pearl’s eyes fluttered open again she saw laughter in Marina’s smile.

“Consider that your first treat of the night.”

Swallowing hard, Pearl blinked up at her ridiculously beautiful girlfriend.

“Not that I’m complaining, but I thought it was supposed to be trick OR treat?”

“Eh.” Marina’s shoulders rolled in a loose shrug. “I picked team treat. Might as well stick with it.”

To which Pearl could only think to say-

“Oh goodie.”

Before pulling Marina back down again.

It took another hour to finish collecting all of Maria old werewolf costume, and they were both very glad that Pearl’s traditional vampire outfit already came with high collars.

 

* * *

 

“Vampires are still better.”

“Pearl, vampires literally _suck._ ”

“At least we get to wear clothes that don’t look like they got run through a shredder-”

“ _Wolfie!_ ”

The augment, also traditional, was cut short by a squeaky shout.

A blur of orange streaked down the street and took a running leap at Marina, who caught the tiny Octoling mid-air and lifted him even higher with a laugh.

“There’s only one person Abby would give her lucky pumpkin costume to! Is your name Leon?”

The pumpkin nodded sagely.

“I’m Leon. I used to be something else but I didn’t like that name and they said I could pick a new one. And new clothes. And what kind of color toothbrush I want. And if I wanted to come trick or treating this year.” The pumpkin paused to catch his breath.

“…they let you do a lot of things up here, don’t they?”

“Boo-yeah we do!” Pearl pumped a fist in the air. “And today those things are mostly about eating candy!”

“Whooo yeah CANDY!”

There was a rush of air as a slightly older Squidkid slammed into Marina’s middle, wrapping her arms around for a squeeze and not even making the Octoling’s sway.

Giggling at his sister the pumpkin also pumped his fist. “Boo-yeah!”

“But we also have to be careful.” Setting the little pumpkin back down Marina held out her hand as an example.

“See? Always make sure you hold onto the hand of someone you know so you don’t accidentally get separated. You can hold your sister’s-”

“DIBS!” Abby called as she switched targets and latched onto Pearl instead. “No sneaking off to fight Halloween decorations this year, you bloodthirsty fiend!”

Pearl grinned at the (slightly) shorter Squidkid.

“Dang. There go all my evil plans for the night.”

Abby’s giggling was as adorable as ever, but Marina couldn’t help but frown faintly in confusion. “But if you’re with Pearl then who will Leon hold on to?”

A tiny hand, still more tentacle than anything else, reached up and tucked itself into Marina’s.

“Abby said it’s safest if I hold your hand.” The pumpkin tilted his head. “I don’t think the street is very dangerous, actually, but I’d still like to. Can I?”

Marina stared down at the Octokid.

She took a breath, tried to say something, then gave up with a smile and a quiet laugh. Instead she settled for just curled her hand around his and nodding mutely.

The tiny hand gave hers a small squeeze. And for all his brave words Marina _knew_ Leon really was a bit nervous about tonight, his first Halloween, his first time wandering through the city he’d also been told was full of enemies.

Somehow Marina managed to find her voice.

“Don’t worry.” She whispered, low enough for just him to hear. “Nothing is ever too scary as long as you have friends.”

The pumpkin nodded, very seriously. And he and Marina kept careful hold on each other all through the night.

Pearl knows because she could barely take her eyes off them, the cute atmosphere that seemed to light up the streets...

And also because she took pics.

Lots of ‘em.

They had to make sure they filled this year’s Halloween photo album, after all, just like they had last year’s.


End file.
